Celebrating on the Seashore
by Metal Chocobo
Summary: Yuffie can't believe all her girlfriend wants for her birthday is a day together at the beach. Kairi doesn't even want a present! Well, present or not, Yuffie's going to make Kairi's birthday as fun as she is. A fluffy Yuffie/Kairi oneshot.


MC: Hello, hello I'm back again with a new fic! It's another Yuffie/Kairi and it's mostly fluff. It's been quite a while since I posted and I know I promised more fic with these two, so here it is. This one is the end result from stumbling over an amazing piece of KairixYuffie artwork and a conversation I had with the artist almost two years ago. So I guess she's the reason we have this fic? Please enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: All characters in this story belong to Square Enix and they retain all the rights. This story is not suggesting ownership of these characters and is not making any money off of them.

**Celebrating on the Seashore**

Yuffie sulkily watched as Kairi carefully folded a lion print beach towel and placed it in a duffel bag. The redhead then added sunscreen, water bottles, and another towel to the bag. Yuffie got up from her chair and walked over to Kairi.

"I can't believe this is what you want for your birthday," Yuffie said, waving a hand in exasperation.

"You promised me anything I wanted," Kairi said, looking in her bag.

"Yeah, but this is a little…" Yuffie trailed off. "It feels like I'm not giving you anything."

Kairi smiled at her. "I used to spend every day at the beach when I was a kid. Is it so wrong to want to go back there with my girlfriend for my birthday?"

"No."

"Then it's settled."

"But it's not a present!"

"Not all presents are physical objects, Yuf," Kairi said. She zipped her bag shut. "Do you have any idea where my new suit is?"

"The pink one? Laundry basket." Blinking, Yuffie realized she had been sidetracked, "My point is this isn't a present. This is us doing something fun for your birthday, which we would do anyway cause this day is supposed to be special for you, and not a present."

"If this is supposed to be a special day for me," Kairi said, picking up her bikini, "can we stop arguing about presents? I've got everything I already want and if you keep talking about how you should have gotten me something, you're just gonna bum us both out. I want this to be a happy day."

"I'm sorry babe," Yuffie sighed.

"It's alright, Yuffie, go put on your suit," Kairi said, smiling. "We're going to have a great day at the beach."

"'Kay," Yuffie said, getting into the spirit of things. She'd be a terrible girlfriend if she kept dragging her feet and actively ruined Kairi's birthday.

Kairi shook the bikini top. "Do you see the hook anywhere? I can't seem to find the clasp on this ring."

"Lemme see," Yuffie said taking the top. "Does it open like a bra?"

"More like a locket."

"Oh, got it!"

The metal hoop had a thicker part that spun round and left a gap in the metal, which allowed the fabric's loop to slip on or off. Yuffie handed the top back to Kairi. The redhead then wrapped the top around her back and slipped her arms through the straps. She carefully tucked her breasts into each cup. Kairi reattached the fabric to the metal clasp and then locked it in place. Grinning, she brushed her bangs out of her eyes and asked Yuffie how she looked in the bikini.

"Great, but you look better without the suit."

"But I can't go out in public like that," Kairi laughed. "Put on your suit and then we'll get outta here."

Yuffie sighed, pulling off her shirt and trading it for her own bikini top. She got it on without any trouble. She picked up the suit's matching bottom and glared at it. "I hate wearing these things to the beach."

"Why's that?" Kairi asked. "You don't seem to mind when we go to the pool."

"It's the sand!" Yuffie said, waving the bikini bottom around. "The beach has all this sand and no matter what I seem to do these things always seem to develop a layer of sand in the bottom! One pieces have the same problem. It's icky and uncomfortable to have sand down there and it still develops in the suit's bottom even when you don't sit down once! Believe me, I've gone entire beach visits without sitting down once to try and counter this problem, but it still happens."

"That's never been a big problem for me," Kairi said.

"What's your secret?"

Kairi shrugged. "Maybe you're not doing anything wrong. Maybe it's the suit."

"What do you mean?"

"If suits always collect sand, wear something else." Kairi picked up a pair of faded cutoffs from the laundry basket. "These don't look like they even have space for sand to collect."

Yuffie grinned, accepting the cutoffs. "You're so smart, Kairi. Why didn't I think of that?"

"I grew up on the beach. Eventually you learn all the tricks," Kairi shrugged. "Besides," she added grinning, "I thought it was part of my job to come up with solutions for problems concerning your nether regions."

"Perv," Yuffie said. She slipped on her sandals then took the duffle bag away from Kairi.

"Takes one to know one," Kairi teased.

"I like this side of you, birthday girl," Yuffie laughed as they exited their apartment.

It was a bit of a drive to the nearest beach. The city the girls lived in wasn't a port city, and wasn't even in a coast state, but it had lakes. Actually, there were quite a few lakes including some large ones with public beaches. Ever since Kairi announced her desire for a "beach party" for her birthday Yuffie had researched into the local waterfronts. She decided to take Kairi to Gullwing Lake. It was the third largest in the area with a long, sandy, and traditionally ignored public beach. She figured they should be able to find a spot of their own there and have a lot of fun.

When Yuffie parked her car Kairi immediately hopped out. She laughed spotting the water. Upon seeing the look of utter delight in Kairi's eyes Yuffie realized maybe Kairi really knew what she was doing when she declared that she just wanted to spend her birthday at the beach with Yuffie. Kairi wasn't a party animal like Yuffie; she had more fun in intimate settings than in large groups.

Yuffie grabbed the bag and their rainbow umbrella. She joined her girlfriend and asked where Kairi wanted to set up camp.

"Hmm, that spot looks good," Kairi said. She pointed at a sunny patch of sand near the water. It was maybe ten or twenty feet away from the next patch of people.

"Looks good," Yuffie said, taking a step toward it.

"Race ya," Kairi said, breaking out into a run.

"Hey, no fair!"

Yuffie tore off after her. When she neared their beach spot Yuffie dropped the umbrella and flung away the duffle bag. She tackled the redhead knocking her to the ground. As it was sand, they slid a bit, with their final location being such that Kairi's head rested in the waves as they licked the shoreline.

"I don't think I've ever gotten my hair wet before anything else at the beach," Kairi commented dryly. Yuffie just laughed as Kairi pushed her off.

"I couldn't just let you sit here sunbathing all day. You have to get wet at least once."

"Sunbathe? Me?" Kairi wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You do realize I'm a natural redhead."

"Oh yeah," Yuffie said, grinning. She was well acquainted with that fact.

"Then it shouldn't surprise you that I burn easily. " Kairi brushed sand out of her wet hair. "I can already feel my skin crisping. Help me put on some sunscreen?"

"With pleasure," Yuffie said. She grabbed the bag and unzipped it. The sunscreen made her pause. "150sp waterproof sunscreen with zinc oxide? Doesn't that sound a little excessive?"

"I burn easily and I don't want cancer," Kairi said, shrugging. She took the bottle and squirted a large blue glob into her hands. Then she began rubbing the goop onto her tummy. Yuffie stared blatantly. Kairi noticed this when she squeezed more sunscreen onto her arm. "You know, you could set up the umbrella and establish our spot."

"No thanks. I'd rather watch you," Yuffie said cheerfully.

"Yuffie."

"Yeah?"

"Stop watching me apply sunscreen and stake our umbrella into the sand."

Yuffie growled, but did as she was told. She really liked watching Kairi. Figuring Kairi would also want the towels spread out Yuffie did that too. She was pleased to see her girlfriend had packed her favorite towel, the one sporting light blue chocobos. As soon as Yuffie was finished setting up, Kairi sat down on her lion towel to rub sunscreen on her legs.

"Can you get my back?" Kairi asked.

"With pleasure," Yuffie grinned. She sat down behind Kairi and accepted a handful of blue sunscreen. Then with much gusto she rubbed the gunk into the small of Kairi's back and along her shoulders.

"Rub until you can't see the blue anymore, that's how you know it's properly applied," Kairi said. "When you're done I'll do the same for you."

"I'd like you to put on all my sunscreen."

"Yeah, that's not happening in public," Kairi laughed. "But if you're good, maybe we can try that later." Yuffie just grinned at the promise.

Now that they had established neither one would spend the next several days with a painful burn it was time to play in the water. They both waded out until they were waist deep. Then Kairi knocked Yuffie off her feet and started a round of horseplay in the vein that pool signs everywhere explicitly outlaw. They splashed water in each other's faces, dunked the other underwater, knocked each other off her feet, and wrestled. To the outside observer, the girls appeared to be trying to drown each other. In actuality it was all in jest.

Yuffie had no idea Kairi was this nimble in liquid. Normally water significantly slowed down a person's movements, but if anything it appeared to make Kairi faster. She also seemed more violent, as land-Kairi never once head butted Yuffie in the stomach. Obviously, Yuffie should have brought Kairi to a natural body of water ages ago.

"I give! I give!" Yuffie yelled.

Kairi had her up in the air above her own head, as she was about to throw Yuffie as far as she could into the lake. Droplets of water fell off Yuffie as Kairi processed the surrender. Then, as gently as she could, Kairi dropped her girlfriend back into the lake water and slipped her arms under Yuffie to cradle her against her chest.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Yuffie asked.

"Did I scare you?" Kairi asked, concern lacing her tone.

"Only outta a year's growth," Yuffie laughed. "Seriously though, what was up with that? I've always pegged you as a lover not a fighter."

"Back home my friends, Sora, Riku, and I, would roughhouse a lot. Usually in the water. It's great practice for blitzball, which we played every day in high school," Kairi said. "If you can't take a head butt or two without losing your breath you can't play. I guess being here without a lifeguard constantly tweeting his whistle put me back in that mindset. Besides, you started it."

"Remind me to sign you up for blitz when we get home. I bet you'd make an excellent forward," Yuffie said.

"I'm better at defense," Kairi laughed. "I'm great at passing, but never seem to be able to score."

"Do you have any idea how many double entrendres came to mind for that crack?" Yuffie asked, covering her eyes with her hands. Really, it wasn't fair when Kairi said such provocative things with that innocent face.

Kairi just kissed her as a response. Yuffie loved those kisses. Sometimes they were light and fluttery, like a butterfly landing on her nose right before she sneezed, while other times they were longer and more passionate. This was a deep kiss, but it didn't last as long as Yuffie wanted. They never did. She licked her lips extending the taste of the kiss. Kairi's lips always tasted the way brambleberries ought to taste in Yuffie's mind.

"You know, I'm kinda hungry," Kairi said. "What about you?" Yuffie nodded, which earned her a grin. Kairi wrapped her hand around Yuffie's and asked, "Want to get a bite to eat? I think I saw a stand on the beach."

Yuffie scanned the shoreline, gently rubbing her thumb along Kairi's hand. "Sounds good. I think I see it over there."

They emerged from the water and ambled over to the food stand. It was warm enough that Yuffie was glad they were wet. It meant they wouldn't burn their feet as they crossed the hot sand, although she wasn't looking forward to the run back to their towels carrying food after her toes dried.

"What looks good to you?" Kairi asked as the girls scanned the menu. They hung back a bit from the counter so that they could look for a bit before interacting with the cashier. There wasn't a lot on the menu, just traditional beach food like hotdogs, popcorn, nachos, and mini donuts.

"Hotdogs I guess," Yuffie said. "I want something that's filling."

"Sounds good. I'll have one too," Kairi said.

They stood there for another moment. Yuffie noticed Kairi was staring at her like she expected something. She blinked then asked, "What? You want me to order?" The redhead nodded, smiling. "Okay," Yuffie said, walking up to the counter.

"How can I help you?" asked the cashier, sounding bored.

"Two dogs," Yuffie said, scanning the inside of the stand. Her eyes lit up when she spotted one particular machine. "Oh gee, does that thing work?"

The cashier glanced back where Yuffie pointed and shrugged. "Sure," he said, "We sell snow cones."

"We're totally getting two," Yuffie grinned. She turned back to Kairi and yelled, "What kind of snow cone do ya want?"

"Blue?" Kairi said.

"A green and a blue one please," Yuffie said cheerfully.

"Those aren't flavors," he said, frowning as he rung up the order.

"You have those colors, don't you?"

"Yeah, but they aren't flavors."

"Well, what flavors are the green and blue toppings?"

"Lime and blue raspberry."

"Then I want those flavored snow cones."

The cashier glared at her, but filled the order. Yuffie received their food pleasantly and even tipped the man, not that the bum noticed. _'Really,'_ she thought as she carried the food back to their towels, _'Who doesn't know blue as a flavor?'_ When she voiced that thought her girlfriend just laughed.

"Technically, neither blue nor green are flavors," Kairi laughed.

"Blue may as well be!" Yuffie insisted. "And what about orange?"

"Orange is a special case. All I can imagine is that the fruit was named after the color," Kairi said. "At least in English; probably the other way around wherever oranges first grew."

"You think?"

"I have no idea. We could look it up online when we get home," Kairi said ending the subject. She licked her snow cone. "These are tasty. I'm glad you spotted the machine."

Yuffie just grinned proudly. She liked it when she surprised Kairi. After the girls finished eating, they lay about for a bit on their towels. Yuffie, as usual, got bored doing nothing very quickly. Since Kairi seemed ready for a catnap, Yuffie decided to let her girlfriend snooze when she went for a short stroll.

The beach was surprisingly clean. Yuffie didn't see any signs of pop-tops, bottle caps, or broken shards of glass commonly found on most beaches in this day and age. This was especially surprising considering its nearness to a bustling metropolis. Either this particular beach had an excellent volunteer group protecting this stretch of waterfront or for some reason Gullwing Lake attracted a class of visitors that picked up after themselves. Yuffie wished for the latter option.

She moseyed along, poking rocks and sticks of wood with her toes looking for something of interest. There weren't much in the way of shells or fossils like there would be at the ocean. Still she kept looking about to see if there was anything unusual, either natural or manmade. She found something in the latter category.

A woman with absurdly long red hair sat beside a blanket covered with jewelry. Yuffie paused to look at her wares as the glittering stones set off her 'shiny' senses. She had probably been a magpie in her last life. A lot of the pieces were glittery little rings or earrings, pretty, but the wrong sort of gift. Kairi didn't have pierced ears and Yuffie thought giving her a ring—even a turquoise one with a shell instead of a stone—would be sending the wrong message.

"Can I help you find anything?" the vendor asked.

"Do ya have anything that isn't earrings or rings?" Yuffie asked, frowning at a hideously ornate necklace. "And doesn't look like it escaped from the crown jewels?"

"You can look at the doodads or the dinglehoppers," she offered gesturing toward an even stranger assortment of stuff at one end of the towel. One of the pieces appeared to be a twisted fork. "I'm not certain what's in there."

Shrugging, Yuffie agreed to look in that pile. Much to her surprise, she found something worthwhile there. It was a bracelet with plastic beads. In and of itself that wasn't too exciting, but in the center of the bracelet there was a small yellow star with a bit of green attached to the top point. Biting her lip Yuffie suppressed a cackle.

'_Paopu,'_ Yuffie silently laughed. She knew that design well because Kairi loved paopu fruits. They were the redhead's favorite reminder of her tropical home and she always kept a few on hand at their apartment for whenever she got an island craving. A bit of jewelry that would never develop mold the way the fruit sometimes did would be a perfect gift for Kairi's birthday.

"See anything you like?" the woman asked.

"What about this thing?" Yuffie asked in a bored tone, holding the bracelet up with one finger. Even if she knew she was getting it, she still ought to do her best on getting a good price.

"That star anklet?" the woman asked, misidentifying the fruit. "I've got another one lying around somewhere. I'll give you a good prince if you buy the pair. You could use them as matching anklets or wear one on both feet yourself."

They shifted through the dinglehoppers and found the matching anklet before settling down to haggling. However, Yuffie's heart wasn't in it. She was too pleased to have found the matching gifts to press hard enough for a great price. Besides which, she wanted to get back to her sleeping girlfriend before she woke up.

Yuffie ran back the way she came clutching the present. She landed on her towel in a flurry of sand. Looking over at Kairi, Yuffie realized she had just doused her girlfriend with sand. She laughed sheepishly and reached over to brush a little sand off Kairi's face.

"I take it you're excited about something," Kairi said. She ran a hand over her own face then shook her book and shut it. "What's up?"

"I got you a present!"

"On the beach?" Kairi leaned forward to get a better look. "Well, pass it over and let me see, Yuf."

Yuffie proudly presented Kairi with a box. She was grateful she waited long enough to let that vender gift wrap the anklets. It meant Kairi got the excitement of opening a gift instead of just having sweaty jewelry thrust into her hands. The redhead opened the box and peeled back the tissue to reveal the anklets. Kairi laughed and held one up.

"Where did you find paopu jewelry?" Kairi asked. She leaned forward to examine the piece more closely.

"I found this lady selling them up the shoreline. She thought they were stars even though they've got the leafy bits," Yuffie said. "I got two because they came as a pair and I thought you'd like having a pair."

"They don't work useless you have the pair," Kairi said. She grinned at Yuffie. "I remember seeing these in jewelry stores back home when I was a kid. They're friendship anklets to share with your most important person. I always wanted to split a set, but Sora and Riku always complained this sort of thing was too girly."

"While I don't think it's too girly," Yuffie said.

"I'm glad to hear that because I was hoping you'd want to share this set with me," Kairi said, offering Yuffie one of the anklets. Yuffie grinned as she accepted it then looped it around Kairi's right ankle. "You know, I kinda thought you'd put your own on," Kairi said wryly.

Yuffie shook her head and gave her girlfriend a big grin. "More romantic this way." Kairi laughed and returned the favor, attaching the other anklet to Yuffie's left ankle. They kissed.

The moment they separated a blitzball hit Yuffie in the back of her head. Swearing, Yuffie whipped around and snatched the ball out of the air before it hit the ground. She had half a mind to smash the ball into the face of the idiot who had bashed it into her. Kairi reached out and rubbed the back of Yuffie's skull.

"How badly does it hurt?" she asked.

"I'll be fine as soon as I murder the owner," Yuffie grumbled, hefting the ball.

"Dude, I'm really sorry about that," said a guy, running up to them. "I guess Bickson doesn't know his own strength." Another man caught up to them also mumbling apologies.

Yuffie slowly rose to her feet glaring at both of them. The one not named Bickson held out his hands for the ball, but Yuffie didn't return it. Kairi also got up and touched Yuffie's arm.

"I guess there wasn't any serious harm done," Kairi said brightly. "So we'll return the ball, right Yuf?"

"Sure." Yuffie plastered a smile on her face. It wasn't a nice smile. Still she offered the ball back to its owners. She would be polite for Kairi's sake, but that didn't mean she had to be nice.

Not-Bickson took the ball and flashed Kairi a smile. He said, "I truly am sorry about that, ladies. My name is Graav and this is Bickerson."

"Kairi," Kairi said. "This is Yuffie."

"We really didn't mean to hit either one of you, but now that you're both up, would you two care for a game of beach blitz with us?" Both men flashed them hopeful smiles. Kairi looked at her girlfriend uncertainly.

"Sure," Yuffie said. She retied her headband around her forehead. "But it's going to be boys against girls."

Graav and Bickson looked at each other and grinned before returning their focus to the girls. They obviously liked that proposal.

"Don't hold it against us if we tackle you," Bickson said grinning.

"Course not," Yuffie said, "it's just part of the game."

Yuffie made them regret that agreement. She tackled, passed, and scored better than either of the boys and was nimble enough to dodge their every attack. Kairi was more than willing to catch and pass with her girlfriend, especially if it happened right before Graav or Bickson could try and tackle her. Sure, the boys sometimes got the ball and even managed to score a few times, but overall the girls slaughtered them. They admitted defeat when the score reached 16-4 in the girls' favor.

"Shit, you guys must be pros," Bickson panted as he collapsed on the ground.

"Naw, we're just good at what we do," Yuffie laughed.

"Beach Blitz is a lot more difficult than I remembered," Kairi said. "The water makes scoring so much easier and I've never slipped during Blitzball like I did here."

"No Jecht Shot for you, huh?"

"I've always liked the Volley Shot better. No reverberation."

"I was going to offer you a consolatory dinner afterwards," Graav said, "but since you two won do you want to make it a victory dinner?"

"I love free meals," Kairi said.

"What?" Yuffie yelped.

"However, we already have plans tonight," Kairi said, rubbing Yuffie's arm. Yuffie relaxed and grinned. Of course Kairi wasn't inviting two random dudes to their celebration.

"Think we can join you?" Graav asked hopefully.

"Sorry," Kairi said, wrapping her arms around Yuffie. "My girlfriend and I have a limit of two people for tonight."

"Girlfriend?"

"You're too hot to be lesbians," Bickson said.

"It may surprise you to learn this, Bicks, but there are some awful sexy lesbians in the world," Yuffie said. She winked at Kairi. "And we're two of them."

Graav and Bickson wandered off. They were both clearly disappointed they had wasted an hour or so with girls that were only interested in each other. Yuffie would have felt bad for them, but they had hit her in the head with a blitzball and tried to take her girlfriend. They deserved no sympathy.

"I can't believe they thought we were too attractive to be lesbians," Kairi said, sitting down on the beach. "I am really tired."

Yuffie dropped onto the sand next to her and crawled closer. "They obviously have shitty gaydar."

"I guess."

"Kairi," Yuffie said. She was practically kneeling in Kairi's lap.

"Yes?"

"I think you're too sexy to be anything but a lesbian."

Kairi burst out laughing and wrapped an arm around Yuffie. She pulled her in for a quick kiss. Yuffie slipped her own arms around Kairi's waist and buried her face in Kairi's shoulder. She couldn't help but laugh too, Kairi's laugh was infectious. They stayed like that for a long time. At least, it seemed like that to Yuffie. Eventually though, both girls were too tired to keep laughing and the laughter turned into giggles, which faded into a satisfied silence.

Kairi sighed and danced her fingers across the top of Yuffie's collar. Yuffie closed her eyes and enjoyed the intimacy such a simple gesture could bring. She rolled her head along Kairi's shoulder until she could look up at her girlfriend.

"Did you enjoy today?" Yuffie whispered.

"Yeah," Kairi replied. "You've given me the very best birthday I could hope for. So thank you."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Do you want to hear a secret?"

"I'd love to."

"I would have had an amazing birthday wherever as long as I had you too. You make everything wonderful and fun for me," Kairi said. Yuffie grinned happily. "I think we're ready to go home."

"Do we really have plans for just the two of us tonight?" Yuffie asked as they began to gather their things.

"I certainly hope so," Kairi said. She threw the last of her belongings into her bag. "I was planning on a night in with Chinese takeout. Just the two of us." She turned to look and Yuffie with a frown on her face, "You didn't invite anyone over, did you?"

"No!" Yuffie said, waving her hands frantically. "I like your plan better than anything I could have come up with. Besides, I want your birthday to end on a high note. So let's do that."

They crawled into the car grinning at each other. As Yuffie pulled out of the parking lot she hummed her favorite theme song. It had been a good day at the beach, an excellent private birthday celebration, but Yuffie was happy to be going home now. After all, Yuffie had a lot of ideas on how to finish celebrating Kairi's birthday in private.

* * *

Funny fact, Wikipedia says the fruit came before the color in the English language. Previously, orange was called 'red-yellow' or 'yellow-red' (_geoluhread_ in Old English). It's amazing all the things Wikipedia can teach us.

Anyway, please review. I love hearing your thoughts and comments. Good or bad, long or short, I still want to hear them. They help spur me into writing more fic. Thanks for reading.


End file.
